I’ve seen quite a few BATS (Barrow Arts Theatre Society) productions over the years and often come away thinking to myself, “Wow, that was brilliant! Probably their best show yet.” And somehow, I find myself in that exact same position yet again.

As I’m sure we’ve all come to expect, the acting and vocal performances were top notch. What impressed me most however, were the costumes, which were all spectacular. Every single one was incredibly well designed but to highlight a few in particular, I was enormously impressed by Shrek and Fiona - in ogre form, obviously, which were the most elaborate costumes I’ve ever seen in a BATS production. Also, Pinocchio, complete with extending nose, Gingerbread Man, which while technically was a hand puppet was still brilliant and really funny, but of course my personal standout has to be Lord Farquaad. If I’m being honest, I hadn’t even considered how they were going to achieve the character being the right height; I did briefly wonder if he would be played by a child, but no, of course for peak comedy value it could only have been a full-grown man on his knees and a pair of prop legs. Perfection. Speaking of props, Dragon deserves an enormous amount of praise. It was such an impressive thing with its whole body moving around the stage and separate head piece, all with moving parts; it was just outstanding.

I’ve briefly talked about the comedy already, but I really can’t overstate how funny the whole show was. I have no idea when you’re reading this but, honestly, I’m probably still laughing; some of the jokes were pure gold. I’ve mentioned Lord Farquaad’s legs which were a constant source of laughs throughout, especially when they would accidentally catch on things or bend the wrong way, but the scripted humour was also hilarious, such as his first entrance.  Picture the scene: an enormous castle door, lines of soldiers on either side, fog billowing out, all to triumphant music until… a bloke in a Snow White wig and shoulder pads shuffles out on his knees. Outstanding, no notes! Then of course, you can’t have Shrek without Donkey whose overwhelming positivity and constant jokes kept the audience rolling with laughter, the perfect opposite to Shrek’s exhausting sarcasm.

Much like the film, there were so many jokes that were simply background gags or throwaway lines that I probably didn’t catch them all, but it just goes to show the care that went into every detail of the production. I love going to BATS shows because the audience always has a good time and you can tell that so do the cast and production team. I will always recommend that people go and support the group in the future.

Elliot Wilkes